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Tennessee

65K views 242 replies 66 participants last post by  nailbender0259 
#1 ·
5/26 First Swarm from a NUC I picked up on the 21st of May. They set down at 70 feet high, no chance to get them...

13850
 
#106 · (Edited)
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

4/4/12
Murfreesboro, TN

Swarm from tree that I had seen growing on the outside of the tree for days. Yesterday the bees spanded 3' on the outside of the tree. Got back over there this afternoon. Found swarm in a nearby tree. Around 5 pounds of bees. Using a 5-frame nuc with brood comb sprayed with SW/LGO. Cut branches and most of the bees would go back up in the tree. Repeated this process 3 or 4 times. Each time more bees staying in nuc. Finally started tickeling the bees with my glove until I would have a large amount of bees on my glove and take them down to the nuc. Cut one more limb and then tickeled the bees with the limb getting a lot of them on it and took them down to the nuc.

Still could not get them all down. Went back at nightfall only to find around 1 - 1 1/2 pounds of bees still up in the tree with the rest of them still in the nuc. Calls for storms tonight. Guess those bees will get really wet.

Wonder if there are 2 queens in the swarm. 1 in the nuc and the other in the tree with the smaller amount of bees. Have captured swarms before that had at least 3 queens in the swarm.

If not raining tomorrow, will bring nuc home with/without the bees in the tree.

Will then start up a trapout on this tree to get the bees still in the tree.

Update: Bees back in tree this AM (04/05). Finally got them out of tree into using an 8-frame setup and a crocus sack to continuously bring the bees down and shake them into hive. Put the crocus sack over the limb the bees wanted to go back to then cut that part of the limb. Took it down in the crocus sack and all is now well.
 
#107 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

04/05/12
Smyrna, TN

Swarm about 8 pounds and on lowest limb of a nearby tree around 15-20' up. Cut the limb until it slowly came down and touched the ground near the 8-frame hive with 7 brood frames. Used crocus sack to moved bees from branch to hive. More bees than box would handle. Added a medium and continued. Still huge amount of bees on the outside. Cinched up and put it in the back of my PU and took it to an organic farm.

P.S. This is a swarm from a tree I am suppose to cut down to remove the bees. Based on the number of bees at the tree it seems like the bees absconded, not swarmed. Time will tell.
 
#110 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Found a very large swarm hanging from one of my top bar hives yesterday, 4/19/2012, in Murfreesboro, TN.

I brushed it into an empty Lang box that was ready to be put to use. I checked on it several times today and this afternoon around saw what looked like all the bees take off into the wild blue yonder. About 30 minutes later a huge pile of bees was on the ground in front of the box, but no bees were left inside it. So I guess the swarm from yesterday split into two swarms.

Anyway, I put a cardboard box with LGO in it upside down on top of the pile of bees in the grass. While I was waiting to see if they would go up into the box, I opened a TBH and found a comb of new eggs. I cut it up to fit into two frames, put the two frames into the Lang box, dumped the now full cardboard box of bees into the Lang box and they seemed to be content to stay there. They started fanning so I guess I got the queen, but I couldn't see her. A large number of bees were still on the ground so I put the cardboard box back over them, caught some more, and dumped them into the Lang as well. Hopefully, they'll stay this time.

If you're interested, yesterday's catch is linked here, and here and when I finish this post, I plan to upload a video of today's events.
 
#112 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Spotted and captured a 5 lb. swarm about ten feet above ground in a cedar tree around 2:00 PM. The WX was mostly sunny, 82F and breezy with possible storms 12 hours off. This yard is located in 37090, approx. 25 miles east of Nashville, TN. The swarm probably came from our TBH (Italians, our only hive in this yard not containing mongrels) sitting 40 ft. away.
 
#114 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

Caught yet another swarm yesterday (4/28/12) from my own TBH that I started on March 13. This is the third (maybe 4th) swarm from it in the past 10 days. I happened to be out checking on my hives when it swarmed this time, so I watched it take off and land in a lilac bush about 5 feet from the hive, maybe 4 feet off the ground. I shook it into a Lang box that had been in a tree in the front yard where I was attempting to use it as a bait hive.
 
#116 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

One of my hives swarmed last week and set up house in a hollow tree about 40 feet above ground. Today, they apparently decided to move again and are currently clustered out on a branch...also 40 feet overhead. Wish I could reach them. I've set up a couple of boxes around the property with old comb and lemongrass oil; maybe I'll get lucky.

Pete
Hendersonville, TN. 37075
 
#119 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

From my suburban TBH:
04-05-2013 - Attempted to swarm out of my hive late evening, I managed to keep them happy until the next day when my hive threw one full (basketball sized) swarm and was going to throw another. A local beek who runs a bee removal company came and got the swarm from a low tree and the cluster from the bottom of my hive. They are now living in a town a few miles away with a very happy beek.
04-14-2013 - One small swarm into a neighbor's tree, has since moved on to another neighbor's tree. Not really sure what to do about it now.....
 
#125 ·
Re: Please Post your Swarm Dates?

4/24/14. Had a large swarm come into one of my yards while I was working my bees yesterday. Lit on a cedar branch about 8' off the ground. I just walked over, put a box underneath, and shook them in. I wish they were all that easy!
 
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